"NO! Anything but that!" Naminé screamed. It was finally time for her to face her greatest fear.

"You're going to have to...*urf*...face him sooner or later," Kairi grunted. She was struggling to maintain control of her body because Naminé was fighting her every step of the way.

"But why now?" Naminé whined. "Can't we do Xaldin, Xigbar or Xemnas first? Why Vexen?"

Kairi dragged a heavy leg behind her. "What exactly...*urk*...is it about him that...*nngh*...scares you?"

"Are you kidding? You know how disgusting and perverted the guy is?" Kairi could feel Naminé quivering with fright. "First of all, there's that freaky glare of his. The way he just stares straight through you as if he's got X-ray vision, stripping you with his eyes. It's like once you're in his sights, there's no telling what the guy's got planned for you.

"There's also the hair! He's like the drag queen from hell! He spends most of the morning shampooing and conditioning that hair of his. Everyday at Castle Oblivion there was always a line to the bathroom because he would be spending hours bleaching it blonde! I mean, you think Marluxia was bad...

"And there's the laugh. Oh gawd, that creepy laugh of his! Once you hear it, you'll have nightmares for weeks! It's like nails across a chalkboard times ten!"

"Then it's a good thing that we've switched to whiteboards then," Kairi commented.

"I'm serious!" Naminé snapped. "I've also noticed him sneaking into my room when he thought I was gone."

Kairi's eyebrows shot up. "Really? What'd he do?"

"Not sure. But my stuff reeked of..." Her voice trailed off.

"But, what..." Kairi began, but Naminé interrupted her.

"And this one time when he was doing the laundry, I happened to pass by and you wouldn't believe what I saw."

"What?" Kairi asked apprehensively.

"Vexen was..." Naminé was on the verge of crying. "Vexen was trying on Larxene's panties!"

Kairi blinked. "That's nothing. One time Sora was wearing a pair of woman's underwear too."

"Kairi. That was during your 7th birthday party in a game of Truth or Dare. And Sora wore it on his head. I meant Vexen was actually trying it on! That wrinkly old butt of his in that G-string..." Kairi felt Naminé shudder again. "I couldn't eat for days."

While Naminé had been ranting, Kairi had managed to lug her body in front of Vexen's cove. Kairi began to reach for the symbol with her hand, but she could feel Naminé preventing her arm from extending fully. "Naminé, listen. The sooner we get rid of the old fogie, the sooner you'll have closure and get on with your life."

"Please, Kairi!" Naminé pleaded. "I'm not ready for this yet!"

"Look, you don't have to appear if you don't want to. I'll take him on solo. But either way, we have to do this!" With a last bit of effort, Kairi was able to jerk her arm toward Vexen's symbol.

When the light faded, Kairi found herself in front of the gates of Twilight Mansion.

Kairi took a deep breath to calm their heart from beating so fast. "Naminé, please," she said gently. "I know you're scared. But look how far you've gone in terms of bravery. You've helped take down Roxas, Marluxia, Saix and Lexaeus! And they were among the most skilled or strongest of the Organization!" Naminé didn't say anything, so Kairi continued. "Like I said, you don't have to appear. You could just advise me since I don't know about him."

Naminé hiccuped. "Kairi, I..." Before she could say any more, the data streams began to appear.

Kairi could feel Naminé start to shrink back a little. "Naminé, you can do this! Just stay with me!"

Naminé took a few more deep breaths through Kairi. "Alright, I'll...try."

Kairi smiled. "Thank you, Naminé."

When the streams finished forming, an old man with grayish-blond locks appeared before Kairi. In one hand was a giant shield that seemed to radiate wisps of smoke. "Vexen's element is ice," Naminé quoted. "Be careful, Kairi." Vexen stared at the pink-clad redhead as if sizing her up.

Kairi crossed her arms impatiently. "Naminé, I see what you mean. I've only met him and he's already creeping me out."

The old Nobody gave a short bow. "Hello, Kairi. My name is Vexen. But I'm pretty sure you've heard a lot about me. Am I right?"

Kairi's eyes narrowed. "Let's just get this over with, jerk." She went into her fighting stance.

Vexen raised an eyebrow. "Jerk, you say? I guess you've heard those rumors after all." The Chilly Academic didn't bother raising his weapon. Instead he said, "So, how has your existence been...Naminé?" Kairi felt Naminé cringe. "Yes, I know you're in there, Naminé. Remember all the fun times we've had together?"

"Shut up, you old coot!" Kairi growled.

"What? Can't old acquaintances reminisce about old memories?" Vexen grinned. "And you would know all about memories, right?"

Kairi could feel Naminé's courage drain. "Focus, Naminé! Stay strong!"

Vexen wiggled his fingers creepily as if he were a child who couldn't wait to unwrap his birthday present. "Remember Frosty Sundays?" Vexen whispered. "When I used to bring out Mr..."

Naminé shrieked in terror. "I can't do it! I'm sorry, Kairi!" And with that, Naminé's consciousness withdrew from Kairi's reach.

"Naminé!" But Kairi could feel that Naminé had curled up into a little ball and was now hiding in a dark corner of her mind. And the worst part was Vexen somehow knew that she was alone.

He let out his creepy laugh, causing goosebumps along Kairi's skin. "Well, now it's just you and me, princess!"

Vexen snapped his fingers. A data circle with the Nobodies' emblem suddenly appeared below Kairi's feet. For some odd reason, she could feel a slight warm updraft coming from it as if she were standing over a giant blow-dryer. She quickly jumped out of the way, feeling very uncomfortable with heat blowing up her skirt. As soon as her feet touched the grass, the circle began to home in on her new position. "What is this thing?"

"Didn't Naminé tell you that I'm a researcher? The circle underneath your feet is a data scanner." Kairi jumped away again as soon as she felt the warm sensation of heat crawling up her legs. "We can either do this the easy way or..."

"Scan me?" Kairi didn't like where this was heading. "You want to scan something, go buy a girlie magazine. Maybe it'll show you how to actually get a hairstyle that works, hippie boy!"

Vexen shook his head. "All those rumors about me. It's sad, really. Jealous of my wisdom, I guess. I didn't always look like this," he stated with a surprisingly somber tone. "Yes, it's true. These blonde locks of mine used to be all natural and golden. And my face was smooth like a baby's bottom and shone with youthful enthusiasm! But then I sold my heart to science and received this old, sullen face in return."

"Aw, you're gonna make me cry," Kairi snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Still doesn't excuse you for what you did to Naminé." She pointed her weapon at Vexen. "So help me, I'm finishing you off, you abomination! Once and for all!"

Vexen laughed at her bravado. "Oh ho! The princess thinks that she can actually destroy her betters, eh?" Vexen's shield hovered in front of him as trails of diamond dust lifted him inches from the ground. "Then come and catch me if you can!" Kairi didn't want to play Vexen's game, but she could feel the scanner start to home in on her again.

"Anything to keep that scanner from shining through me," she muttered. Kairi tightened her grip on the Keyblade and ran after the old man, the scanning circle shadowing her with every step. Despite being ancient-looking, Vexen was able to glide around the arena as if he were ice-skating on thin air. Kairi occasionally was able to reach him with her Keyblade, but his shield guarded against every single one of her attacks before Vexen glided out of reach again. "Stand still, you coward!"

Suddenly, the data scanner disappeared from view. Unsure of what was going on, Kairi stared intently at Vexen. "Now that my scanner has collected enough of your data..." An orb of light suddenly appeared in his hand. "...I can take it and create a clone of you!" He raised an eyebrow. "A Heartless clone!"

"What?! But there's no darkness in my heart!" Kairi shot back.

Vexen tapped his pointer finger to his forehead. "The knowledge you know does not apply inside this cyberspace."

Kairi blinked in confusion. "What are you..." Before she could finish her thought, the orb of light exploded.

"Behold!" Kairi braced herself. The light faded to reveal a Heartless that looked exactly like...

"Sora?" Indeed, the Heartless that had appeared was not Kairi, but Anti-Sora. Its expressionless face turned this way and that as its arms hung loosely like wet noodles and it wouldn't stay still in one position for more than a second.

Vexen was taken back by the situation. "That wasn't supposed to happen." His head dropped as he began to massage his forehead. "I was sure that I calibrated the..." Vexen's head snapped up. "What am I saying? ATTACK!" Anti-Sora wasted no time and sped along the ground like a hovercraft on water.

Kairi arched back the Keyblade, ready to strike the incoming opponent. Unfortunately, she misjudged the speed and ended up being tackled to the ground. "Get off!" she yelled. Kairi was expecting it to start biting her or something, but like Twilight Thorn, it was curious what its new prey was. Its hands started to rapidly feel her up like an insect's antennae scanning its environment.

"I said to attack her, not play with her!" Vexen yelled, stamping his foot. But Anti-Sora wasn't listening. Kairi grabbed the Heartless' arms only to cringe in disgust by how cold and slimy they felt. She fired a kick at the creature's chest, sending it flying. Kairi quickly got up when she noticed that the Heartless had landed on its feet and was rushing toward her again, its limbs flailing about.

The Princess of Heart didn't know whether to go after Vexen while he was still controlling Anti-Sora or deal with the Heartless first. Her mind was made up for her when Anti-Sora pounced. She stumbled back a few steps, losing her balance. The creature landed on top of Kairi, its searching hands roamed straight toward her...

"Ew! Get off me, you pervert!" Kairi impaled the Keyblade into the creature's stomach, causing it to burst into nothingness. She rubbed her chest and butt self-consciously. "That felt wrong on so many levels."

"Who would've thought that Sora had a dark side?" Vexen chuckled. "That Heartless was based on his data after all. And I never would've imagined..."

"Shut up! Even Sora would never go that far!" Kairi took a running leap into the air, the Keyblade over her head. "You're finished!" At first, Vexen only stared at her with an impassive face. Her weapon looked like it was about to hit without fail. At the very last second, Vexen raised his shield to block the attack, the blade only scraping against the ice.

Before she could react, Vexen had fired a freeze blast at her wrists, encasing them in a giant chunk of ice. The sudden weight caught her off balance and Kairi toppled backward onto the grassy field. Taking advantage of the situation, Vexen swooped upon his prey and blasted her feet too, leaving Kairi stretched out and extremely vulnerable.

"Oh, why did I choose to wear this skirt?" Kairi thought. "It's starting to ride up again!" She looked at Vexen's face and was horrified to see him staring at her with sadistic pleasure. As she tried to pull her arms and legs free, the old man slowly circled around her bound form with intense interest. "When I get free, I'm gonna..."

"You mean "if." "If" you get free," Vexen stated. "You forget that I control the ice element. You'll stay frozen there until I release you." His eyes began traveling downward over her body. "Although to see you becoming a mature young woman does seem to have its perks..."

Kairi's face began to flush furiously. "Hey! My face is up here, Lord Perv!" She could feel numbness set in her hands and feet. "What now? You've got me at the moment. Are you going to summon an icicle or something and stab me with it?"

Vexen's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Heavens, no. I may be heartless, but I have no intention of killing you." A grin immediately plastered itself on his face. "But I'll make you wish that I were."

"Funny way of showing it, summoning that Heartless to attack me while you cower behind your shield." Kairi relaxed her muscles for a few moments as they were getting sore from all the futile pulling. "What's the matter? Afraid to get your own hands dirty?" The words slipped out of her mouth before she realized it. Vexen apparently found the question hysterical as he let out a bone-chilling laugh that sent shivers down Kairi's spine.

"Youth. Wasted on someone as naive as you. I'm a researcher, remember? I'm not at all ashamed to put my hands on my project specimens." Kairi didn't like the sparkle that appeared in the old man's eyes. "I've seen the memories of both Sora and Riku's and there was an interesting fact that I've learned about you." Kairi could feel her heart beat faster from fear. "Your greatest weakness, Kairi." Vexen raised an eyebrow. "This calls for further investigation, wouldn't you say?"

"What?!" Kairi shrieked. "Are you seriously going to cut out my heart?!"

Vexen shook his head with apparent amusement. "It's not your heart I'm calling weak."

Kairi desperately struggled against her frozen bondage as Vexen began to crack his knuckles greedily. "Don't you dare!" she screamed fearfully. The Chilly Academic only gave her his signature "Freaky Glare of Doom." As he drew closer, one last thought popped into her head, "Naminé, why didn't I listen to you?"

Three small figures were making their way through the Crystal Fissure. The Gummi mechanics, Chip and Dale had found themselves completely lost when they happened to stumble upon none other than Jiminy Cricket. He had gotten separated earlier from King Mickey and ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere. Now the tiny trio were looking for anyone that could help them. Although they were far from helpless (Chip and Dale crushed a few Heartless via stray boulder) their vertically challenged attribute was making long distances an impossibility.

"Remember the good ol' days before we became Gummi mechanics?" Dale asked.

"Yeah, I wish the Rescue Rangers hadn't split up." Chip scratched absentmindedly behind his ear. "The pay wasn't good, but at least we made a lot of friends."

"What happened?" Jiminy asked.

Chip frowned. "Fat Cat set fire to our headquarters. We all just managed to make it to the Ranger Wing before it burned down." A tear trailed down the chipmunk's cheek. "It was a sad day for all of us."

Dale patted him on the back reassuringly. "Cheer up! We made him pay for it in the end."

Chip nodded sadly. "Yeah, he finally got what he deserved, but poor Monty hasn't been the same since."

Jiminy was busy scribbling down notes. "Who's Monty?"

"Monterey Jack was one of our teammates," Chip explained. "Fat Cat's henchmen broke his nose. I mean, it stopped him from his cheese attacks, but..."

"He ended up returning to his hometown afterwards to recuperate along with Zipper," Dale finished.

"And Gadget..." Chip sighed. "She was the one who taught us all about Gummi Ships."

"What happened to her?"

"Well, she ended up with a happy ending. Gadget Hackwrench became the president of her own Gummi Ship repair chain." Chip smirked. "She doesn't sit behind a desk, though. Gadget's one of those hands-on supervisors."

"Wait a minute." Jiminy stopped writing and looked up at Chip. "Didn't you wear that fedora hat and flight jacket?" Then he turned to Dale. "And you wore that Hawaiian shirt! I completely forgot about that!"

"Yup!" Dale said proudly, sticking out his chest. "We were the best there ever was!" Then his face dropped. "Of course, now we only wear them for Halloween."

"I remember when I used to be the spokescricket for Walt," Jiminy commented with a sigh. "Those were the days, they were. Poor Walt, bless his soul."

"Hey, what's that?" Chip was pointing at a familar yellow-orange figure in the distance. "Isn't that Pluto?"

Indeed, Pluto had been off on his own little adventure. No one knew where he had gone, what he did or how he got there. But he always seemed to show up whenever the situation called for him. His ears suddenly perked straight up as they caught the faint moan of a stirring character. Propped up against a wall behind some crystals was a semi-conscious woman in black, her limbs limp and her head dropped down to her chest. Pluto trotted up to her and began licking the side of her face.

"Hey, stop...that tickles..." the woman giggled. Undaunted, Pluto kept gently nudging her until her eyes flew open. "CLOUD!" She blinked a few times to regain her bearings. "Where am I?"

As she got to her feet, the dark-haired brunette shook her head and brushed herself off. "I'm back in Radiant Garden, huh?" The faint sounds of battle echoed along the walls. "And it looks like I'm not too late."

Pluto nuzzled against her leg, resulting in her giving a good scratch behind the ears. As soon as the others were in earshot, Chip stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. Pluto immediately snapped his head toward the sound. Overjoyed to see some familiar faces, Pluto ran up to them and enthusiastically gave the trio a wet, sloppy lick that drenched them all. The woman walked up to them with a curious expression on her face.

"Who are you three?" she asked.

Jiminy cleared his throat as he stepped forward. "Afternoon, ma'am! I'm..."

"EEK! A talking cricket!" WHAM!

A few minutes later, Tifa Lockhart was still apologizing to Jiminy for trying to step on him. "I'm so sorry about that! I've seen a lot of creatures, but never a talking insect!"

Jiminy was brushing off his hat. Fortunately in her panic, she had missed every single stomp. Now, he was sitting on top of Pluto's head along with Chip and Dale. "It's fine, ma'am. But what are you doing back in Radiant Garden? Has Cloud returned?"

Tifa nodded. "I was close to catching up to him, but..." She shrugged. "All I remember was a flash of light and suddenly I woke up here." Tifa looked up at the sky as if expecting Cloud to come shooting down from the heavens. "Of course if I'm here, that means Cloud's not far off."

"Well, we're looking for our friends too. Do you mind if we accompany you?"

Tifa shook her head. "Not at all. You can tell me what's been going on along the way." As Pluto got up and began following her, another question popped into her head. "By the way, aren't you that one person that sang "Wish Upon a Star?" Tifa asked.

The cricket tugged on his lapels proudly. "Yes, ma'am! The one and only!"

Tifa gave him a funny look. "Yeah, the song was romantic and all, but wishing at a star doesn't work."

Chip and Dale giggled quietly as Jiminy rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it."